Honestly, there's so many variables, including the fact that there's no guarantee in this market that, even after becoming an attorney, you'll make more money, that we'd need to know more about your situation to even begin to analyze it.

The variables would include your age, current salary, expected salary/area of law, how likely that is to get, promotion potential at current job/as lawyer, etc. Sorry I can't be more specific.

One way I've heard to look at is that you're losing your last year of work, which generally is among workers' highest-paid, so each year can make a difference.

I'm looking for the true cost (lifetime earnings loss) of delaying law school one year.

There is a statistic on this (perhaps in a bar periodical), but I can't find it.

(I'm not considering deferring; my interest is for other reasons.)

Thank you.

Why?

How much would you make during the one year delay?How much of that would you save?By how much would your debt be reduced?Are you considering the median lawyer or a high-end lawyer?How much debt will be incurred from law school?

Groundhog is right. There are way too many specific factors to account for to produce a number, and far too much uncertainty. You could try another approach.

Why are you thinking of delaying law school for a year? What do you hope to gain from that year? How does the value of that stand up against the possible "cost" in terms of money and time lost?

Also consider that over your lifetime, the year's delay would be close to irrelevant. You could always make up for it by working another year at the "end" of your span as an attorney before you retire. How many years were you planning on working? What are your retirement goals?

It seems to me the real "risk" of delaying (or otherwise) would be personal at this point. Would delaying going to law school make it more difficult for you to get in a year from now or easier? Would you spend this next year regretting not being on your chosen path yet?